April 2018

[Commentary] One phrase that keeps being tossed around: "Facebook should be treated like a utility." The idea is that the use of Facebook has become effectively essential to modern life, and therefore it should be regulated just like water or electricity. Let's get this right: Facebook is not a utility. It is an app. It may be a dominant app. It may even be exercising monopoly power unfairly. But it is not a utility, and muddying the definitional waters this way will only help the real utilities—like Comcast, Spectrum, AT&T, Verizon, and CenturyLink—avoid genuine oversight.

A telecommunications standards organization - GSMA - said it is delaying implementation of a new cellphone technology due to a US government probe of alleged coordination between the group, AT&T and Verizon to hinder consumers from easily switching wireless carriers. At issue is a technology that could make carriers’ business more volatile. ESIM allows consumers to switch wireless providers without having to insert a new physical SIM card, an identifying microchip. That makes it easier to compare wireless networks and easily select a new service when desired.